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Road Rally Racing

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WELCOME!Road Rally Racing (RRR) is an offshoot of the Buckyball Racing Club with a focus on racing ground vehicles through planetary outposts and (eventually) cities. Unlike traditional BRC races, RRR is a seasonal Championship event. Each season lasts 3 months with competing racers submitting times for six courses. At the end of the season, the champion is the racer with the shortest total time for all six courses.

OBJECTIVEEach season, visit all six courses and race against the clock to get your best times.

DESCRIPTIONThere is no "flavor" for a Champion-series event...it's racing for racing's sake. Go FAST! and do it skillfully. What should be noted, particularly if you are familiar with other BRC races, is that courses will generally be selected from heavier-G worlds than are typically used for long-distance "fliving" events.

DECLARING INTENT TO RACEBefore racing a particular course, you are REQUIRED to declare your intent to race by posting in the thread for that season. You must make this declaration in advance of your attempt, which is to say, before you have deployed your vehicle, and you must start your run within an hour of the posted time. You cannot declare your intent more than 24 hours beforehand.

You may only have one "active" intent at a time, and you must take an hour break between the end of race attempt and another, so declared start times must be at least 2 hours apart. These races require a lot of focus are particularly grueling, and the event organiser doesn't want to see anyone over-exerting themselves.

To declare your intent, specify the following:

driver: CMDR Name
nav: Navigator's CMDR Name if using one (and their Forums Alias if applicable)
Course Name (Star System)Vehicle Name (Vehicle Type)
Start Date / Time

6 COURSE SUBMISSIONS = 1 CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRYTo qualify for the Championship leaderboards you must race all 6 courses as a single unit. This is accomplished by requiring racers to declare and submit times for courses sequentially. While you can choose the order in which to attempt each course and submit times for them individually, once a time is submitted for a course you must move on to the next course of your choice until all 6 have been completed. The total time for those 6 submissions becomes your Championship entry time.

What you cannot do is repeatedly submit times for a course until you are happy with it. Once a time is submitted, it is locked in as a part of the current Championship entry attempt.

USING A NAVIGATORYou are permitted to get real-time assistance while racing. A navigator will hover or fly above the course in a ship while you race the ground vehicle. It is the navigator's responsibility to remind you of course details, such as:

where to turn;

the direction to loop around an antenna or light post;

jumps to make;

the location of large rocks and other obstacles;

et cetera.

This can be tremendously helpful, as Road Rally Racing courses can be very complex with lots of twists and turns. Breaking a course down into smaller areas ahead of time will help you remember details so that you can focus on driving, but a live navigator is much more reliable.

That being said, there is a downside to using a live navigator: you may experience a bug that amplifies damage to vehicles when other CMDRs are in the same instance. While you are allowed to repair your vehicle mid-race, you will have to decide for yourself if the benefit of a live navigator outweighs the additional damage you vehicle will take from his or her presence.

If you acquire a Navigator between the time of your declaration and the start of your run, DO NOT edit your declaration, as any edit to a declaration post will disqualify the run attempt. It will be sufficient to include the Navigator's info with your submission.

BEING A NAVIGATOR
Use of a navigator does not create a unique team; you are permitted to assist as many commanders as you desire. Just be as helpful as possible to each.

COLLECTING EVIDENCEYou must record your race attempts using video capture; screenshots will not suffice.

Start recording your video while still in your ship, and docked at the race course's location. Make sure that the station date matches your declaration date, and that the station time is at least as late as your declaration time, but by no more than 1-hour.

Deploy your vehicle and drive to the start line. Make sure to position your vehicle's front wheels behind the starting line by using headlook or the camera suite. Repair your vehicle if needed.

Once positioned and displaying a speed of 0, go when ready. The vehicle's HUD clock must be visible when you cross the start line, which is when your run start time is read. A running start is allowed for non-Versus runs!

Follow the route specified for that course, and don't stop recording until you've crossed the finish line and come to a complete stop.

It is recommended that if an hour has not passed since your declared start time, that you return to your ship and rerun as many times as possible within the 1-hour window of opportunity, then upload the fastest time from among those attempts.

RULES OF THE ROADThe map provided for each course represents intent more than exact location. For example, when looping around Defence Turrets or Antenna Bases, the intent is to go around in the direction indicated, not to exactly follow the path of the line. When reading a map there are a couple of rules to follow to make sure you obey the course's intent.

When the line curves around an obstacle, going around is the intent. Jumping over the obstacle is not. For example, jumping over the corner of a landing pad structure is never the intent when the line clearly goes around.

Likewise, when the line passes between obstacles, going between them is the intent, not around both. For example, a hairpin turn that goes through a small opening between two structures requires you to go between the structures; you can't execute a bigger hairpin that takes you around both.

Orange lines indicate a significantly elevated pathway, as in, atop buildings. Take care not to fall.

Lines on roadways intend for you to drive on the roadway. If you fall off a roadway (or building), get back on where you fell off. If you can't, double *back* to a location where you can; do not drive ahead to reconnect with the course in a way that has you skip a section of the roadway.

Dotted lines mark sections of the course where you can route however you like to cross an area. Some "Storage Area" platforms will include examples of this, and it will be common on open terrain that lacks obstacles.

Solid red arrows mark intended jumps. These are mostly on the map to make you aware of the obstacles before you reach them. Some "Storage Area" platforms and small single-ramp structures are the most likely places to find these.

On some courses, arrows on the line will be different colors to help clarify rare situations where the course doubles back on itself, re-crosses the same location twice, or is otherwise complex in its criss-crossing.

SUBMITTING ENTRIESFor Road Rally Racing events, you will submit a Google form with the necessary information. Remember, you must submit the details of a declared run or plead a Did Not Finish before you can declare another run.

CLASSESClasses differentiate the race based on the equipment being used. Although there is currently only one: the Scarab SRV, it is expected that future updates to the game will introduce new ground vehicles. While we will need to wait and see what any such new vehicles will bring to the game, they are likely to be sufficiently different to warrant making separate racing classes for each. Drivers will be allowed to compete in all classes.

DIVISIONSDivisions differentiate the race based on the rules for racing. Each combination of class/division will have its own leader board for the season.

STANDARD
The Standard division is a solo event where you race against the clock, like most BRC events. Submitted times are used to create the leader board and determine the winner. Ties are broken based on order of submission, where sooner is better. The Standard division uses all the rules and submission requirements described above.

VERSUS
Rather than racing against the clock, in the Versus division racers compete against each other in live, head-to-head contests. The leader board is based on win ratios, with tie-breakers calculated using the win ratios of opponents. This division modifies the above rules and submission requirements as follows:

Racers must compete against a different opponent on every course. For each, you and your opponent must both declare an intent to race naming the other as the opponent. Both racers must specify the same starting time and whether they will line up on the left or right of the start line. Whoever posts their intent first gets their choice of starting position. Racers have one hour from their declared time to meet on the start line and begin their race.

When both racers are on the start line and video is recording, they must agree to the actual start time in text chat (not voice) at least a full minute prior to its passing. Either racer may abort the attempt by saying so in chat prior to the specified time's passing, unless doing so would prevent the racers from starting within their declared time's 1-hour window of opportunity. Note that a running start is not allowed during Versus competition.

Once the racers start, anything goes! Force your opponent into a wall while crossing in front of them; excute a PIT maneuver to take the lead; T-bone them when you cross paths during a loop; or ram them head-on during a figure-8!

Whoever completes the course first wins the matchup. Only the winner needs to submit video and details.

If desired, a racer may also declare (before racing) and submit a Versus run as their time for a Standard run.

BEAUTY SHOTS AND HOLO-MELeaderboards requires both a beauty shot of your vehicle, and a capture of your Holo-Me avatar. It's a good idea to prepare these before declaring your intent to race.

CONSOLE USERS
If you do not have the ability to edit your screenshots, send me a link to where you have uploaded them via Private Message and I'll be happy to do it for you.

Upload both screenshots to imgur.com or other appropriate hosting service, then include links to them with your race declaration.

FAQQ:I'm confused by the restrictions on declaring intent. Why are they like that?A: While you are allowed to run and submit the details of each course separately, you must run them consecutively. That is to say, you can only work to improve your total time for all 6 courses as a whole.

Q:Can you provide an example?A: Imagine a season with 6 courses named A, B, C, D, E, and F. You choose to run course D first, and declare it. When done you have a choice: accept the time and choose another course to run, or; reject the time and submit a DNF so that you can re-declare for course D. If you submit the details, you cannot return to course D for the current attempt at the full season. However, after completing the season and submitting details for all 6 courses, you may attempt to improve on that total time by beginning a new attempt at the season.

Q:Is fliving permitted?A: It is, but note Rules of the Road #1: no going over obstacles that are meant for you to go around.

Q:How can I tell exactly where a start line is?A: It will always be some obvious feature: like the boundary between a structure's ramp and the terrain, or the crease between a ramp and the structure itself.

Q:What should I do if my wheels get stuck through a wall?A: If you cannot get loose, you'll have to self-destruct, buy a new vehicle, and restart the run. Upload the video and submit a bug report.

Q:Am I allowed to use Hull Strength bonuses from SRV repairing before starting a race?A: Yes, absolutely.

Neat! This should prove fun and interesting. A couple of mild concerns:

* I don't see any maps, I assume that's still WIP?
* I'm worried that if the courses are complicated enough to need a navigator, it will prove to be a barrier to accessibility. One of the great things about most Buckyball & rally events is that there's no need to coordinate with anyone else. I guess you could just practice a lot before you declare and submit an official run?
* Can you clarify what you're trying to go for with the restrictions around when you declare & perform runs? At first I thought it was to make it harder to just spam-repeat runs until you get better / more lucky, but you encourage doing exactly that if you've still got time left in your "window." I guess I'm seeing a lot of complexity and it's not totally clear to me what it's intended to accomplish, so some background would be appreciated.

Neat! This should prove fun and interesting. A couple of mild concerns:

* I don't see any maps, I assume that's still WIP?

Season 1 will run from Oct. 1st until Dec. 31st. My goal is to have maps for a new season ready on the 15th prior to the start of a new season, so that would be this upcoming Friday. The maps will be posted both in Discord and the forum thread for that season. I'll post the test map here in a separate post, but please let me know if you were looking on Discord and did not see it there. Hmm, I now see that I need to get a link to the Discord server in the OP.

* I'm worried that if the courses are complicated enough to need a navigator, it will prove to be a barrier to accessibility. One of the great things about most Buckyball & rally events is that there's no need to coordinate with anyone else. I guess you could just practice a lot before you declare and submit an official run?

That is one of the reasons I want testing and feedback from others, but a navigator is not required. I rarely got turned around to the point that I was lost during my personal testing, but it should be a lot less stressful when you don't have to constantly look at the map while also keeping your vehicle from crashing. From my limited experience, I feel like it would be easy to run a course a couple of times and do a map analysis/breakdown based on that, and still be competitive as a solo runner. That being said, I look forward to the map analysis/breakdown being a social experience in each season's race thread.

* Can you clarify what you're trying to go for with the restrictions around when you declare & perform runs? At first I thought it was to make it harder to just spam-repeat runs until you get better / more lucky, but you encourage doing exactly that if you've still got time left in your "window." I guess I'm seeing a lot of complexity and it's not totally clear to me what it's intended to accomplish, so some background would be appreciated.

The leaderboard is ultimately based on a single time that is the total from running 6 courses as a single unit, but I'm allowing breaks between each course. The pattern should be:

Practice course 1.

Declare course 1.

Run course 1.

Repeat course 1 as needed/desired if within the window.

Submit course 1.

Repeat steps 1-5 for courses 2-6.

Championship entry is now complete.

Repeat steps 1-7 as needed/desired for the duration of the season.

If after completing step 2, you decide that you cannot use any result from that hour, you may declare a DNF and redeclare the course after a 1-hour cool-off. This type of racing is going to be a lot more physically challenging than some people may be used to, and I don't want to be responsible for anyone hurting themselves. The pattern I do not want is:

Declare course 1.

Run course 1.

Repeat course 1 ad naseum for two weeks.

Submit the best time from among all those runs.

Repeat steps 1-4 for courses 2-3.

You're tired of this after hundreds of runs and are only half way to finalizing a Championship entry, so quit.

Season 0 Test Map: Tall's Inheritance - HIP 8711

I am contemplating how to do a live event each season. My current thought is to run it in head-to-head heats that start at the top of every minute until everyone is on the course. So if the live event starts at 12:00, people would line up behind the starting line in pairs as they arrive. At 12:00 the first pair would start and the second pair would roll into position. At 12:01 the second pair would start and the third pair would roll into position, and so on. Even on a medium-sized course, that could support 30ish people before the start/finish line would need to be cleared of people who were too late to get in line. Then there's the issue of parking ships...

Each season lasts 3 months with competing racers submitting times for six courses. At the end of the season, the champion is the racer with the shortest total time for all six courses.
...
To qualify for the Championship leaderboards you must race all 6 courses as a group.

Love the idea and will definitely try to make this. Quick question tho' - it's entirely possible that you might not get an awful lot of people who are able to race twice a month for three months (I could easily imagine missing at least one of the courses). Have you got a system in place for submitting at least one DNF as part of your set of six races? (have you thought about using a points system? or maybe just having a penalty time of something like 2x the slowest submitted time). It would be gutting to submit 5 race times and then have the entire set invalidated because you're unable to make the last one.

... you might not get an awful lot of people who are able to race twice a month for three months ... It would be gutting to submit 5 race times and then have the entire set invalidated because you're unable to make the last one.

As there's already provision for driver + navigator, what about allowing the nominated navigator to race in lieu of the main driver?

Essentially allow a team of 2 to be submitted, and either can be driver or navigator for a particular race. Or run a race for the team if the other is unavailable.
Usually the best driver would always drive, and if both must be declared at he start of the season, it should avoid ringers dropping in for a single race.

Love the idea and will definitely try to make this. Quick question tho' - it's entirely possible that you might not get an awful lot of people who are able to race twice a month for three months (I could easily imagine missing at least one of the courses). Have you got a system in place for submitting at least one DNF as part of your set of six races? (have you thought about using a points system? or maybe just having a penalty time of something like 2x the slowest submitted time). It would be gutting to submit 5 race times and then have the entire set invalidated because you're unable to make the last one.

All 6 courses will be available to race for the entire 3-month season. You can easily complete a full entry in only 2-3 play sessions.

Awesome, definitely excited for this! Will there be some long distance courses as well as courses that go around an outpost?

Probably not...I'd like to leave those for the organizations that already provide for them. I've identified at least a dozen different outpost types, on multiple terrain types, at different gravity levels. I've got lots of material for years to come.

That being said, someday we'll have access to the sprawling cities and suburban environments of earth-like worlds, and I expect the kinds of courses that can be devised there will be very different from the current planetary outposts.

If we're really lucky, maybe we'll see some features in 3.0 that allow us to create more complex courses in more open environments than straight lines.

A small change of plans, my apologies everyone...I had picked this location because it was low on my priority to use as an actual course, but I'd forgot why...it's way out on the edge of the bubble, past Achenar, and is almost 200,000 ls from the system's entry point. Not a very friendly place to get to. I'm going to check another system that's easier to reach and will post when I've confirmed that it'll work.

A small change of plans, my apologies everyone...I had picked this location because it was low on my priority to use as an actual course, but I'd forgot why...it's way out on the edge of the bubble, past Achenar, and is almost 200,000 ls from the system's entry point. Not a very friendly place to get to. I'm going to check another system that's easier to reach and will post when I've confirmed that it'll work.

Testing has been moved to Al-Jazari's Progress in the Nu-2 Columbae system, using the Tall's Inheritance map. Tall's was a little on the weak side anyway, coming in at under 1.94G. Al-Jazari's Progress sports a solid 2.43G.

Season 1 will run from Oct. 1st until Dec. 31st. My goal is to have maps for a new season ready on the 15th prior to the start of a new season, so that would be this upcoming Friday.

It's technically still Friday where I am, but I am not likely to have season 1's maps redone post-feedback until middle of the upcoming week. Tomorrow is my son's 1st birthday, and I've been prepping for and entertaining family. Also my wife an I went out to celebrate our 6th anniversary Wednesday (actual date is Sunday), so I'm a little behind. But I expect a lot of people will be too busy with Thargoids to be worried about the start of a 3-month racing event.